The archives of the articles, reviews, interviews and other ramblings written by Sarah E. Jahier (aka Fatally Yours).

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Grace (2009)

I’ve been looking forward to Paul Solet’s full-feature Grace ever since I saw his short of the same name. Grace
deals with a lot of my biggest fears – pregnancy, children, motherhood,
etc. As a woman, the prospect of pregnancy scares the poo outta me and
is one of the many reasons I don’t want to have kids. Also, the alien
nature of babies just creeps me out, what with their big googly eyes,
babbling language, constant crying and incessant hunger, not to mention
how much self-sacrifice goes into raising a child. Grace taps into these fears and more, but its not just to unnerve women…men will also be very perturbed by Grace’s turn of events.

Grace tells the story of Madeline (Jordan Ladd) and
Michael (Stephen Park), a married couple trying to conceive a baby. When
Madeline finally gets pregnant, she is determined to deliver the baby
au natural with a midwife instead of going to a hospital, much to the
chagrin of her meddling and traditional mother-in-law, Vivian (Gabrielle
Rose). Madeline is also a committed vegan and is very eco-conscious,
which irks Vivian even more.

Madeline and Michael joyously await the birth of their baby girl, but
a tragic car accident leaves both her husband and her unborn baby dead.
Against the wishes of her midwife, Patricia (Samantha Ferris), and
mother-in-law, Madeline decides to carry the infant to term. When the
baby is delivered, it miraculously comes back to life and Madeline names
her Grace.

Madeline dotes on Grace, but she soon notices there’s something not
quite right with the baby. Grace attracts flies, smells a bit funky,
gets bleeding sores on her skin and seems to prefer human blood to
breast milk…

Soon, Vivian starts to nag Madeline about seeing her precious
granddaughter and even going so far as to send the family doctor,
Richard Sohn (Malcolm Stewart), to check up on her. With Grace craving
more and more blood, though, Madeline isn’t exactly ready to show her
off. Patricia starts poking around too, concerned about her friend but
more interested in putting the moves on the new baby momma. As Madeline
deals with the mounting external pressure of intruders, she also tries
her best to satiate the hungry Grace…but she soon realizes that her own
blood will not be enough to satisfy the bloodthirsty babe…

While more subdued and slower-paced than the shocking short, this feature-length Grace
still packs a punch. The woman-centric issues of pregnancy and
self-sacrificing motherhood are rarely featured in horror, so it’s nice
to see these addressed. The prospect of going through a pregnancy and
giving birth to another person is scary enough, but think of if your
baby was born…unnatural…how much would you sacrifice for them then? The
bond between a mother and child are strong, so like Madeline, I’m
willing to bet you would sacrifice everything and anything for them.
Madeline breaks her own ethical beliefs to ensure that Grace gets what
she hungers for…blood…and is prepared to stop anyone that would try to
take her baby away. Sacrifice and a mother’s bond to her child are just a
few of the many themes explored in Grace and are among the many intelligent layers to this intriguing film.

Though Grace isn’t your “typical” horror film, the
script and story are smart and I squeamishly enjoyed its many different
layers, including the “meat is murder” subtext that peppers the film
(the real footage of animals being slaughtered/tortured will unnerve
many). The character of Madeline was well-written as she was strong,
resolute and firm in all her beliefs – beliefs that would soon be
challenged by her bloodthirsty monster of an infant. And yet, the film
never falls into being an exploitative “killer baby” picture, but
maintains a somber, tragic and straightforward tone throughout its
running time.

Jordan Ladd absolutely glows as Madeline. Her portrayal of a mother
who will do whatever it takes to care for her child felt incredibly
realistic, even though Ladd herself has never had any children. The fact
that she was able to tap into such a maternal role is amazing in of
itself, but she actually made us care about the heartbreaking tragedy of
her situation. In fact, all of the women in the film portrayed very
strong, maternal roles. Gabrielle Rose as mother-in-law Vivian had her
own psychological issues, including being obsessed with being a mother
and wanting to breast feed again though she was now a grandma. Rose
played the condescending Vivian with a “mother-knows-best” vibe that
will make your skin crawl. Even the knowledgeable midwife Patricia, in a
commanding performance by Samantha Ferris, was concerned with Madeline
and was constantly checking up on her, though most of that came from
personal feelings she still had for Madeline; the two used to be lovers
in college. Each and every one of the female characters was written to
be a strong woman, which is quite refreshing for a horror film! The men,
on the other hand, were mainly secondary characters or villains, as is
the case with the creepy Dr. Richard Sohn, played by Malcolm Stewart,
who almost orders Madeline induced early after she starts having chest
pains…until Patricia intervenes. And Dr. Sohn gives Madeline one of the
most intrusive and disturbing home exams I’ve been unfortunate enough to
witness! It is always a pleasure to see a horror movie that features
smart, caring women as the main characters instead of just relegating
them to T & A shots or “scream queen” roles.

Besides excelling at writing a compelling script and engaging
characters, Solet’s direction is also impeccable. The sharp contrast
between the early scenes that are bathed in bright sunshine and warm
colors and later scenes where shots are veiled in shadows, sickly greens
and muted colors complements the accompanying action perfectly. There
are also great shots showing Grace’s room adorned with fly traps and the
birthing scene itself is quite traumatic.

Solet has taken a dramatic turn away from the current crop of
immediate, in-your-face mainstream “horror” that scares with jumpy
editing and fake frights. Instead, he has crafted a restrained film that
manages to crawl under your skin and squirm there, increasing the
discomfort until the satisfying finale. It’s not a perfect film by any
means, and is definitely not for everyone, but it is a very well-done
and quiet character study that shows off Solet’s skill as both as a
writer and director as well as the amazing range of its actors.

Grace slowly gestates, until it ripens from quiet
character study to full-blown horror show. If you can enjoy the slowly
unfolding dread, Grace definitely delivers.